Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are braced for heavy losses Thursday in their first major electoral test since he became the UK’s third leader in the space of a few chaotic weeks last year. In the depths of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, the local council elections across England will shed light on the main parties’ standing ahead of a UK-wide general election expected next year. At the last parliamentary clash before polls opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT), opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer on Wednesday pressed on Tory wounds after the party ditched Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss in quick succession last year. Nearly two million Britons will end up paying more on their home loans “because his party used their money as a casino chip”, Starmer told Sunak, referring to Truss’s disastrous tenure, when financial markets tanked. In national polls, Labour has built a double-digit lead over the Conservatives, and is treating the municipal elections as a referendum on Tory rule. Sunak tried to recast the elections — for more than 8,000 council seats across 230 English districts — back on to local issues.